Saturday, May 13, 2017

Real-Time Cyber Attack Maps

Yesterday's huge ransomware attack on websites around the world seems to have reignited interest in the live real-time mapping of cyber attacks. The malware WanaCrypt0r 2.0 encrypts files on infected computers and then demands payment from the computer owner to unlock the files.

A number of anti-virus and cyber security companies feature real-time maps which purportedly show cyber attacks happening across the globe right now. Most of these maps seem to have one thing in common - they appear designed to frighten as much as they are designed to inform.

Kaspersky's Cyberthreat Real-Time Map is a very impressive 3D globe. It features a number of frightening neon lines attacking countries around the world. It also includes some great transitions when you switch between the globe and map views.

The data for the map comes from users of Kaspersky's anti-virus and Internet security software. After looking at the Cyberthreat Real-Time Map Kaspersky hope that you too will be frightened enough to buy & install their products.

The Norse Attack Map also shows a lot of animated colored lines attacking countries around the world. The data for these attacks comes from Norse's '8 million sensors' around the world. The Norse map also kindly provides an e-mail address for anyone scared enough by all this cyber crime to want to esquire about how the Norse Intelligence Network can help protect you.

The Digital Attack Map is a map of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. While this map also has a cyber security company sponsor (Arbor Networks) it also seems a little more serious in providing some useful information. In particular the 'Gallery' view not only provides interesting historical snapshots of large DDoS attacks around the world it also provides a brief summary of the attack and who was targeted in the attack.

I may be being unfair to these cyber security companies and these visualizations might be of use to cyber security professionals. However to me they seem to offer little to the average internet user - beyond an attempt to scare you into buying the company's products.